If at first you don't succeed, get an actor who can use a power drill

Ben and Erik spent most of the day working on the new rig--success! Ben built a wooden frame that extends from the garage ceiling grid. The rig is now powered by a vari-speed electric drill. After lots of adjusting, the spinner runs a little fast, but pretty reliably.

We also distressed the green table quite a bit so it wouldn't look quite so pristine.

I realized that one of the main problems I was having with the dvx100 was framing. The viewfinder is 4 x 3 unless you shoot with bars (and lose resolution). That and the softness of the previous image convinced me to go back to HDV format. If necessary, I'll convert to 24p using something like Magic Bullet later.

Here's the new reference shot with temporary lighting. Color-correcetd with levels & deinterlaced in AE. Shot Portrait mode with a garden flood light + the regular lighting kit. With Ben's stuble and his Member's Only jacket, it does look sort of reminiscent of the Raiders of the Lost Ark reference footage (see Production Begins!).